Just over a year ago, Mark Zuckerberg shockingly bet his company’s future on virtual worlds by renaming it Meta, but according to recent sources, the Facebook boss appears to be getting tired of it. Names related to the Metaverse.
Eighteen months ago, Mark Zuckerberg bet the future of Facebook on the Metaverse, even renaming the company Meta. However, Facebook’s boss is obsessed with another technology: AI (artificial intelligence).
Business Insider quoted Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth as saying earlier this month that Zuckerberg and the company’s other top executives are currently spending most of their time on artificial intelligence.
The company also just announced plans to exclusively commercialize AI in December — a move to join a game in which giants like Google and OpenAI are pouring their hearts.
News of Zuckerberg’s fascination with artificial intelligence has some analysts nervous. Analysts at investment bank Bernstein offered a less optimistic forecast after meeting with tech investors.
“Keeping a close eye on Zuckerberg’s new love for all things AI,” they wrote in a research email, “looks like the ‘effective year’ (Zuckerberg’s proposed cost-cutting plan) is just around the corner. In the end, Meta will likely change the company name to MetAI (our best guess).
Meta confirmed 2023 would be an effective year, with a series of “austerity” policies and job cuts in place. But Zuckerberg will have to spend a lot of money to catch up with OpenAI, Microsoft and Google in AI.
According to sources, the company purchased a large number of Nvidia chips for training next-generation artificial intelligence models, each costing about $10,000.
AI industry executive Emad Mostaque tweeted Friday that the Meta AI research team trained a new AI over five months using 2,048 Nvidia A100 chips.
Nvidia’s stock price has more than doubled since Meta announced it would increase its investment in AI, while the company’s shares are up about 54%. Mark Zuckerberg’s company reports quarterly results on April 26, and Wall Street will be closely watching the company’s spending and investment plans.